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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23726533">For She Had Eyes // And Chose Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mannarose/pseuds/mannarose'>mannarose</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accidental Voyeurism, Embarrassment, Explicit Language, F/M, Masturbation, Smut, angst (Mild)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:02:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,012</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23726533</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mannarose/pseuds/mannarose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After accidentally catching Steve in an intimate moment, you can’t stop thinking about it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Steve Rogers/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>168</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. For She Had Eyes...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was inspired by a piece of fanart that I saw that I can’t find now to save my damn life. It was of Steve and Sharon after a mission against a wall, mostly clothed, him in a tux and her in a red dress, and I loved it.</p>
<p>However, I personally hate how the fandom has treated Sharon Carter at times, so I tend not to vilify her if I can help it. To be clear, Hallway Blonde is NOT Sharon Carter.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You didn’t mean to do it. You weren’t trying to peep. But jeez, if he didn’t want anyone to see, then why the hell was he in one of the corridors? Not that you were complaining. You were, but about the fact that you had to stop watching. Really. You had to. In a second.</p>
<p>You'd been heading back to your rooms from the communal kitchen after you’d woken up starving and embarked on an after-midnight foraging expedition. With the slice of pie and the soda you’d acquired, you were quietly padding back to your rooms when the gasping breaths and soft slap of flesh on flesh alerted you to someone else’s presence and their probable current activity.</p>
<p>Expecting Bucky or even Sam, you’d put your training to use and snuck toward the sound rather than away in the hopes of witnessing something you could leverage against them later. They were fun guys, but you needed any ammunition you could get in the unending friendly battle. Catching them in the act of either getting laid or making do could be excellent ammunition.</p>
<p>Which may be why you'd frozen when you peeked around the corner to one of the corridors in the private areas to spy Steve there with some blonde you only vaguely recognized pinned against the wall.</p>
<p>Your eyes widened, but you didn't move, greedily drinking in the sight of Steve, mostly dressed, as he pounded silently into the woman panting in his arms. You knew you should leave, as quietly as possible, respecting Steve's privacy. You stayed, however, for far longer than you were proud of, imprinting the image of Steve in the throes of passion on your retinas.</p>
<p>Though the light was dim, there was more than enough for you to see that Steve Rogers was fucking beautiful lost in pleasure.</p>
<p>His high cheekbones were flushed gorgeous pink, sharp jaw clenched, cheek muscle twitching. His long fingers dug into the woman’s thighs to hold her up and against the wall, in place for his thrusting hips. You could see the muscles of his thighs and ass flexing as he slammed harder into her, driving muffled gasps of pleasure from her lips.</p>
<p>You were grateful for that, as her sounds would hopefully mask your speeding breathing and racing heart. With one last, too long look, drawn by Steve's speeding thrusts, you drug your eyes and self away. You retreated as silently as you had come, praying neither of them had noticed your presence.</p>
<p>Once you thought you were far enough away, you took off running as best you could to your rooms, taking the long way around to avoid Steve and his companion at all costs. Back behind the closed door of your rooms, you dropped the pie and soda you still carried on your coffee table and ran to your bedroom.</p>
<p>In the privacy of your bed, you let your body rule. Sliding your hand between your thighs, you let yourself imagine being in the blonde’s place, your flesh between Steve’s teeth, your arms around his neck, your hands in his hair. As you began to rub circles into your clit, you envisioned Steve’s hands digging into the flesh of your thighs, holding you up and open for the slam of his hips against yours, driving his cock into you with the same relentless rhythm you’d just witnessed. Between your own fevered imaginings and the heated scene seared into your memory, you were coming in no time flat.</p>
<p>With a shuddering moan, you climaxed imagining Steve’s eyes on yours as he fucked you like a madman against a wall.</p>
<p>A while later, despite your physical satisfaction, you stared at the ceiling in horror.</p>
<p>How were you going to face him tomorrow?</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>You decided not to. Face him, that is. You opted instead to avoid any kind of social setting that day, pretending general surliness to keep everyone, but most especially Steve, at arm’s length.</p>
<p>You skipped breakfast entirely, not wanting to have to make small talk with anyone when you knew you’d be too busy remembering the line of Steve’s jaw as it clenched in passion. You waited until you knew much of the team would be in the gym before you joined them. To make sure you could avoid any interactions, you’d put on your leave-me-alone aura.</p>
<p>When you'd first joined the team, you'd made it clear that there would be days that you needed to be left alone. Those days were signified by the enormous gray hoodie enveloping your torso. Today you wore it over workout gear. You'd pulled the hood up, slid sunglasses onto your nose, and put earbuds into your ears before you'd walked through the door.</p>
<p>Every eye in the room turned toward you, recognized the hoodie and slid away as you crossed toward the outside door. Everyone knew you jogged by yourself on gray hoodie days. Since you studiously did not look at him as you walked out, you didn't see that Steve's eyes stayed on you, his gaze darkening as you left.</p>
<p>Steve's mood, already dark and mean, blackened viciously. With a snarl, he turned on the punching bag Bucky was holding for him. Bucky merely lifted a brow, easily reading Steve's moods. He could always tell when Steve had let his ex-girlfriend get her hooks into him again.</p>
<p>Steve was cursing himself. He'd known better than to let her drag him back in, even for a night, but the craving for you had been riding him hard when she'd texted. He'd been watching you take turns tossing popcorn and catching it in your mouth with Bucky while you debated movie choices with Sam and his heart had been sighing romantically at how sweet and beautiful he thought you were.</p>
<p>He also thought you firmly off-limits. Not only were you a member of his team, and that was no small matter, any change in dynamic possibly detrimental to the safety of everyone, you'd also never given him any indication you'd be receptive. You joked and teased him, but you did that with literally everyone; you were generally the friendly sort.</p>
<p>You also occasionally flirted with him, but it was delicate, almost innocent. There seemed to be more heat behind your flirting with Sam or Bucky. Still, the three of you were the sort of friends that gave each other endless shit, so there didn't seem to be anything to your flirting with them, either. Sam and Bucky always included Steve in the endless shit-giving, too, but you and he had never gotten to that point.</p>
<p>He wished he knew how to talk to you, how to become your friend even if he couldn't tell you he was half in love with you. Every time he tried, however, he ended up feeling too shy to open up for real. You'd always been open and encouraging, but he could tell his shyness looked like rejection to you. It left Captain America perpetually between you.</p>
<p>He'd been lamenting exactly that when she'd texted him, trying to draw him back into her sphere where she could punish him for not loving her enough. Most of the time he was able to resist, but he was feeling particularly sad and lonely. Watching you sit across the room from him, happy and within reach, yet somehow still a million miles away was both temptation and torment. Torn apart by it, he'd been willing to take the punishment to forget what he couldn't have, if only for a moment.</p>
<p>Until he'd been inside her, wishing she was you, and his heightened senses told him they were no longer alone. His inexplicable ability to recognize you by sound and scent alone had set him off and he'd come helplessly, with stuttering hips. He knew he'd heard someone's heart besides hers and his own, and he'd prayed it hadn't really been you who'd caught him in the corridor, that it had only been his own fevered imagination and desperate need that made him think he'd caught the edge of your scent.</p>
<p>He'd been in a foul mood thanks to both the worry of that and the ugly scene he'd endured at her hands. He'd already damned himself for answering her text at all, let alone allowing things to go so far, when, seconds after his climax, she'd murmured in his ear, her voice full of venom, "Thinking of her, again, were we?"</p>
<p>She'd been talking about Peggy; she didn’t know about you. They’d broken up before you’d joined the team, so it had been easy to hide his feelings for you from her, too aware she'd use it against him at the earliest opportunity, the way she did with Peggy. She'd never forgive him for not loving her the way she wanted. She couldn't seem to stop hurting them both because of it.</p>
<p>Then you'd walked in and out without looking at him and he'd known for certain. You'd walked in on him fucking his ex and now you couldn't meet his eye. His already foul mood shifted to something black and ugly as his fists pounded into the bag in frustration.</p>
<p>Outside, you breathed a sigh of relief. You'd made it past the first hurdle. If you could get through this day without humiliating yourself, you'd consider yourself home free. You were sure you could deal with this with just a little more time and distance. You just needed to put Steve back in the No-Sex box where you’d put all the hot people you worked with every day.</p>
<p>You were trying to ignore the fact that just the sight of Steve out of the corner of your eye had your memory flitting back to the sight of his fingers digging deliciously into flesh.</p>
<p>You put the image out of your mind and took two deep breaths as you started to stretch. A nice long run, a cold shower, and something other than last night's pie to eat and you could handle this.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>"Y/N?"</p>
<p>You shrieked and jerked in response to the sound of Steve saying your name, hitting your head on the engine you were currently under while you worked on it.</p>
<p>"H-h-h-h-hi Steve!" Deeply grateful for the prototype engine that currently hid everything from your hips up, most thankfully your face, you rolled your eyes at the stuttering giggle. You despised the clear sign of the girlish crush you’d developed overnight, but in your defense, you hadn't been expecting anyone to come talk to you on a gray hoodie day, least of all Steve. He was kind and friendly, but he didn't seem to have much to say to you.</p>
<p>You'd tried to accept it, accept that not everyone was going to click with you, but you really liked Steve. His friendship with Sam and Bucky told you how warm and funny he could be with people he liked and his camaraderie with Natasha made it clear he could be friends with women, and the best of friends, no less. You couldn't help a little bit of hurt feelings that he stayed resolutely apart no matter how you tried to welcome him in. You now realized it was that little burn of resentment that had allowed you to ignore how attracted you were until you’d been confronted with his base sexuality.</p>
<p>Altogether, you'd been blindsided by the sound of Steve's voice, especially as you'd been belting along with the stereo where your phone was blasting your garage playlist. You liked fast and loud when you worked with your hands. Not expecting visitors, you hadn’t been bothering with the leave-me-alone attitude, singing happily as you tinkered. “Volume down fifty percent,” you said, and the music immediately dropped to a murmur.</p>
<p>You realized when he stayed silent that he was probably waiting for you to slide out from under the engine. Fat fucking chance. "Sorry, Steve. I literally have my hands full right now." The lie tripped lightly off your tongue, easier when you didn't have to look at him, but your discomfort was still coming through in your voice, loud and clear to anyone who knew you well. You hoped if he heard it, he didn't recognize it. "But go ahead and talk to me. What's up?"</p>
<p>Steve was both grateful and disappointed that he wasn't looking at your face. He was almost certain, based on your reaction, that you were the person who'd caught him last night, but he was not at all certain anymore that you were upset by it. You sounded… embarrassed? Ashamed?</p>
<p>He felt a rush of chagrin at the thought and spoke with less care than he had planned. "Were you in the hallway late last night?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he winced in horror. He hadn't meant to ask you that at all, let alone that baldly.</p>
<p>"NO!" You shouted the word, the sound strangled, and so clearly a lie, you merely let your head fall back with a thump as you tried to salvage it anyway. "Why do you ask?" you squeaked.</p>
<p>You turned your head until you were looking at Steve's boots when you heard what sounded like a snort from him. You'd never heard that sound from him before, at least not thanks to you, and it had you smiling despite the situation. "You're as bad a liar as I am," he said, his voice rich and warm and so appealing it almost made you slide on your creeper out from where you were wedged to peer into his face.</p>
<p>You resisted, however, too guilty to look at him straight on. You'd stood watching for far too long last night to have the moral high ground in this conversation. You were terrified he'd noticed, the shame of it miserably crawling up your neck and over your scalp. When he fell silent, you started to squirm with it.</p>
<p>Steve opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, unsure how to go on. He wanted to apologize, but now it seemed you’d rather not talk about it. He also didn't know how to apologize. How could he tell you that he was in the hallway because he couldn't stand to have his ex in his space again? He opened his mouth, still not certain what he was about to say, but painfully aware that he’d been silent for far too long when you’d asked him a question.</p>
<p>Before he could speak, however, the silence had worn you down, and you sang like a canary, the words coming out in a rush of guilt-laden confession.</p>
<p>“Look, I know I might have stood there too long, but I was expecting the chance to ruin Bucky’s night or something and I was really surprised when it was you. Can we just pretend it never happened?” The final question came out on a choked high-pitched squeal that shamed you, but the humiliation was so intense, the guilt so over-whelming, you could only close your eyes and hope Steve took pity on you.</p>
<p>“How--” Steve stopped when his voice croaked a little to clear his throat and try again. He was embarrassed, confused, and sick at the thought that you might have seen the fight between him and his ex, heard the things she'd said to him. “How long did you stand there?”</p>
<p>The silence dragged on long enough that Steve actually felt his knees dissolve as his stomach threatened to revolt.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, you were laying, your head pillowed on the little cushion at the head of your creeper, your body limp as you stared in utter horror at the shiny metal you'd been working on without seeing it. You closed your eyes as your stomach churned.</p>
<p>Steve may have suspected that you'd stumbled upon him last night, but his words made clear that he had had no idea what you'd done. How could you possibly explain? There was no way to tell him you'd stood dumbstruck, watching him fuck someone, without giving away that you'd been mesmerized by the sight of him given over to lust, to passion. He'd just been so fucking beautiful.</p>
<p>But he hadn't come in here to confront you and you'd just sold yourself out. You'd never wanted a hole to open up and swallow you the way you did in this never-ending moment. You didn't want to answer, but the silence had stretched to the breaking point and if one of you didn't say something, you were pretty sure you were going to go stark raving mad.</p>
<p>"Okay," you said, your voice carrying a defensive tone and you were grateful all over again that Steve couldn't see your face. "I'm not a pervert or anything. I wasn't watching on purpose."</p>
<p>Steve's knees almost buckled in relief as he finally understood that you were embarrassed, rather than angry and upset, or possibly worse, judging him. "I shouldn't have been in the hallway." Steve rushed to reassure, not wanting you to think he was here because he was angry. "I'm sorry I embarrassed you."</p>
<p>You figured it was a good thing that you were kind of wedged under Tony's latest prototype. You were, apparently, entirely too susceptible to Steve. You could hear the genuine remorse and worry in his voice and it made you want to shimmy out there and cuddle him. A complete puddle, you responded as thoughtlessly as he when he rushed to reassure, your breath signaling your desire to astute ears.</p>
<p>"I wasn't mad, Steve," you half-laughed, the image of his neck muscles, taut with lust, flitting across your mind’s eye. "Let's just forget it." You slid over enough that you could reach out and give a thumbs up.</p>
<p>Steve laughed when your hand came into view, the tone in your voice making his heart beat faster, though he couldn’t put his finger on why. "Thanks, y/n," he replied, his voice warm with the affection he always felt for you but had never known how to express. He was almost glad that this had happened. The Captain seemed to have faded. He didn't know if it was because he could set it aside or because you could stop seeing it. Either way, he was beginning to feel like your friend.</p>
<p>"So, we're cool, right?" You said it hopefully, praying he'd let you off the hook.</p>
<p>Steve laughed out loud, and the sound was so pretty and warm you could hardly stand to stay still. You wanted so badly to see his face lit up with laughter you inspired. You stayed in place, however, still too terrified that he'd see your almost desperate lust for him if he could see your face right now. You needed a little more distance between yourself and the memory of the way the muscles in his thighs flexed and released as he thrust--</p>
<p>"We're cool." Steve was smiling at the thumb you were making dance in response, utterly charmed by you. He was trying to think of something else to say, wanting to stretch this time out longer, but nothing was coming to mind. With nothing else, "Thanks, again." He cringed. "I'll let you get back to work, then."</p>
<p>"I'll see you later." You said it warmly, catching a hint of the discomfort and seeking to alleviate it even if you didn't understand its cause. You had this newfound overwhelming urge to make Steve happy. You wished it wasn't partly because you really wanted to replace Hallway Blonde.</p>
<p>Steve turned and started to walk out, a smile on his face in response to the quiet humming noises you were making absently as the clink of your tools against metal started up again. He was halfway to the door when he realized that you'd never actually answered the question.</p>
<p>You were starting to hum along with the music as you got back to tinkering when Steve's voice rang out. "But… how long <em>did</em> you watch?"</p>
<p>"What?!" Blindsided, convinced you were home free, you had absolutely no defense or guile and the word was so drenched in pained guilt there was no way Steve didn't hear it.</p>
<p>"You did watch," he pointed out, turning back around with new determination, the guilt in your voice clear to him, but yet unexplained. "But I asked how long, and you didn't answer."</p>
<p>"Of course I did." Your voice was raspy and painfully unconvincing. If you'd been the slightest bit prepared for any of this, maybe you wouldn’t be fucking it up so hard. You cleared your throat and continued. "Not, like, a pervy amount of time, but a… justifiably surprised amount of time. I didn’t have a stopwatch on me.” You tried really hard to sound vaguely irritated and a little offended that you had to explain, and you mostly succeeded.</p>
<p>Steve stood next to the engine, looking down at your legs, jiggling in apparent anxiety. He was considering his options. He didn't want to get overly physically pushy and drag you out from under there so that he could look at you, but he also really wanted to see your face. He felt like he needed to understand what was going on underneath this conversation more than he needed anything else.</p>
<p>Steve lay down on the ground so that he could see you where you lay, one arm limp at your side, a socket wrench in your hand, while the other arm was up, your palm across your forehead in dismay. His mouth began to spread in a smile at how utterly adorable he thought you were, even when you'd been obviously lying to avoid having to look at him.</p>
<p>"Hands full, huh?"</p>
<p>"Fuck me!” The expletive burst from your mouth in an explosion, both startled and horrified at being caught. You whipped your head to the side to see Steve laying on his stomach on the floor next to you, his cheek pillowed on his crossed wrists, pretty face smiling sweetly at you.</p>
<p>Too susceptible by half, you turned your face back to the engine in front of you. You were afraid that pretty smile could get you to do anything.</p>
<p>“Will you please come out here so I can see your face when I’m talking to you?” Steve asked it kindly, aware that you were hiding because something embarrassed you. He wanted to ease that embarrassment, show you that you didn’t have to be embarrassed with him. He was too familiar with the sensation to want it to happen to anyone else, least of all you.</p>
<p>“I don’t want to.”</p>
<p>Steve’s lips twitched and he had to stifle his laughter at the petulant tone and cadence to your words. He didn’t move from his spot on the floor. If all he could get was the sight of your profile from under one of Tony’s massive prototypes, it was better than nothing. “Why not?”</p>
<p>“Because I’m humiliated.” You spoke slowly and deliberately, annoyed and anxious because the conversation that you’d thought you’d escaped unscathed had turned around on you. It didn’t help that you could see Steve smiling at you out of the corner of your eye and you were having a hell of a time not crawling out from under the engine and all over him. “The fuck you think?”</p>
<p>As you spoke, Steve could hear your heart start to race but it didn’t have the pounding rhythm of fear. If he wasn’t also afraid that he was merely engaged in wishful thinking, he’d wonder if it was arousal. Once he started considering the possibility, your behavior made more sense, but he couldn’t be sure he wasn’t deluding himself, desperate for you to want him with the same need he had for you, the same need he constantly had to bury beneath the Captain America façade.</p>
<p>“I shouldn’t ask how long you watched, should I?” He could hardly believe he was saying this, knew doing so could change  the dynamic between the two of you as well as the rest of the team, but he wanted you more than he wanted his next breath and the idea that you could want him too was irresistible. “I should ask <em>why</em> you watched,” he continued, his voice lowering with the first hints of desire.</p>
<p>Your wrench fell the ground where you dropped it when you shoved your creeper out from under the engine as you lost your temper. To be fair, the anger was more frustration and panic, than anything else. The shivers of embarrassment running up your spine and over your scalp, easily distracted you from the desire coloring Steve’s voice.</p>
<p>“Oh my god!” You shouted it as you came to your feet. Steve had already leapt to his feet when you burst into motion. You faced him, eyes narrowed, hands on hips. “Because you’re sexy as hell and it was hot, okay? Are you happy now?” Steve’s jaw dropped at the bald statement combined with the hostile tone to your voice.</p>
<p>Gesturing wildly, you continued to rant. “When I realized how I was violating your privacy I turned around and walked away but I’ve felt guilty ever since.” You sneered and the tone did not match the words of your next sentiment by any stretch. “So I’m sorry." With a scoff of irritation, you turned and walked out on a long stride of anger. “Fuck you.”</p>
<p>Once far away from your garage and Steve, you sagged against the wall in horrified dismay.</p>
<p>Did you just yell at Steve that watching him fuck got you hot?</p>
<p>Were you out of your damn mind?</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Steve sat in the window seat in his bedroom. He’d picked these rooms because of the wide, deep bench next to tinted glass where he could look out at the woods behind the compound but not feel as he often did, as though he were on display, a fish in a bowl. These moments of peace, alone with his sketchbook in his designated quiet place, sometimes felt like the glue holding him together.</p>
<p>In these moments, he most often sketched you. Today was no exception.</p>
<p>He'd spent the last half hour trying to get right the exact curve of your eyebrows as you'd shouted at him before storming out of your garage. He never wanted to forget the look on your face, as he'd fallen a little more in love with you that day.</p>
<p>Steve had never had the luxury of self-delusion. He'd been born fragile and small to a world both mean and cold. He'd found cruelty far more often than kindness at the hands of others, until a man of rare vision and compassion had seen more deeply and offered him a chance to do more than the body he'd been born into would allow. He'd leapt at the chance, simply because he needed to right the wrongs he saw in the world and no one would let him any other way.</p>
<p>After the serum, however, he'd learned that the eyes stayed cruel even as the blows became pats, the raised fists handshakes, the sneering disdain simpering flattery. He'd learned quickly to see who meant their kindnesses, their compassion, and who sought his company because of his appearance or name. He rarely made mistakes these days, though his most recent was fresh.</p>
<p>Today, your eyebrows had twisted in distress even as your mouth went mobile in fury, the quiver of your voice so slight only his highly sensitive ears could have heard it. The humiliated, guilty misery had been all over you the moment he'd been allowed to see you and his heart had stumbled.</p>
<p>Where another would look at you and see the oil smeared across your cheek, Steve saw in the agitated motion the compassion that fueled the anxiety and humiliation all over you. The tone of your voice revealed the kindness that inspired such guilt; the shine of your eyes gave away the integrity that caused such misery. In short, he'd been attracted to the surface of you, the funny and bright, but the sweet heart beneath had him captivated.</p>
<p>Steve couldn't deny that the attraction was not silent in this contemplation. His brain kept replaying your voice saying that you thought him sexy. He couldn't stop thinking about the implicit admission in your bald statement. You'd wanted to watch.</p>
<p>You'd wanted to watch him.</p>
<p>The thought alone had had him half hard all day. He wanted to show you. He wanted to show you everything.</p>
<p>He couldn't help the fear, however. He was afraid to tell you that, to admit that he'd developed feelings for you that were anything but professional. He worried that to do so would alter a dynamic that worked, that kept all of you safe. He was also terrified that your interest was merely physical and to admit to anything deeper would do nothing but invite your pity.</p>
<p>All his old insecurities rose up to choke him at the same moment he heard his ex's text tone.</p>
<p>
  <em>I'm sorry, baby. I just get so jealous. Let me make it up to you.</em>
</p>
<p>He thought of her pretty perfect lips sneering in fury and something perilously close to hate, then of your dancing thumb and your shamefaced flight. Everything inside him softened in tenderness at your sweetness, your genuine warmth. Reminded that he had a right to kindness and compassion, his heart hardened against the blonde viper that was once again trying to get her fangs into him.</p>
<p>
  <strong>No. All we do is hurt each other. I'm not doing this anymore.</strong>
</p>
<p>As soon as he hit send, he felt lighter. He wondered if he should leave you alone for a little while before he tried to talk to you again. Because he would absolutely be talking to you again. He needed to know if you felt anything like the electricity that raced over him every time he saw you.</p>
<p>
  <em>Not doing this anymore? Who the fuck do you think you are?</em>
</p>
<p>She hadn't always been like this. Or at least she hid it better at the beginning, until he'd fallen in love with the woman he thought she was. Over time, however, there emerged cruel jealousy from underneath the funny charm that had captivated him. Even in the beginning, however, he couldn't imagine her reacting to anything the way you had. She lacked the empathy.</p>
<p>Steve couldn't help but compare you. You didn’t just compare favorably, there seemed to be no comparison. Most important, your reaction to what had happened told him what kind of heart you had. He had no defense against kindness, strength, and compassion. Whether it was wise or not, he needed to find out if there was anything there. </p>
<p>He finally listened to Natasha and blocked her number.</p>
<p>Steve went back to his sketch, smiling at the memory of how you’d looked shouting compliments at him, wondering when you’d let him talk to you again.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. ... And Chose Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After accidentally catching Steve in an intimate moment, you can’t stop thinking about it. Now that he knows you caught him, neither can he.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A week later, the next movie night, you were taking your new route from your garage to your room, this one the least likely to cross Steve's path. You were still not sure you could face him, too humiliated by everything. You’d confessed far more than you were comfortable with thanks to guilt.</p>
<p>In the past several days, however, you'd been reliving the confrontation over and over again, as well as what you had come to think of as the Incident. Snapshots from what you’d witnessed could hit you at any time, breaking your concentration and making your skin run hot, but you’d been going over the conversation in your garage every night before you fell asleep as well. It had occurred to you that he hadn’t been angry or upset. Rather, he’d seemed apologetic, at first.</p>
<p>When you'd stormed out, you would swear he looked intrigued.</p>
<p>Not only did that thought not help you sleep, you were absolutely sure you weren't ready to deal with that in reality, even if it wasn’t only your imagination. Hence, the roundabout route. </p>
<p>You were taken by complete surprise, then, when you rounded a corner and ran straight into him.</p>
<p>Steve, on the other hand, had been waiting for you, expecting you to pass this way to the screening room, and caught you easily against him, his hands closing gently around your upper arms, pressing you briefly against his chest before steadying you in front of him.</p>
<p>"Hey, y/n," he said warmly, reluctantly letting you go once your feet were firmly planted.</p>
<p>You absolutely melted into the warmth of Steve's hands, his body. You had only grown more susceptible since the Incident and when his hands squeezed once before letting go, your heart fluttered in response. He was so sweet and sexy. "Hi, Steve," you rasped, a little breathless at being caught, both by surprise and by Steve.</p>
<p>His smile spread. The look on your face, the smile on your lips gave him confidence that he hadn’t simply imagined it; you were attracted. "I haven't seen you in a while. You haven't been avoiding me, have you?"</p>
<p>"Of course I have." The retort came out wry and vaguely disgusted and prompted a chuckle from Steve. His eyes devoured your face, feeling starved for the sight of you. Though in the time he’d known you he’d been careful to not give away his feelings, he’d still stayed in your orbit, wanting to be around you. Your absence had been sorely felt.</p>
<p>"I wish you wouldn't," he replied, his smile sweet and his eyes soft as they seared into yours. You were caught in the blue, captivated by the touch of green you'd never noticed before. You and he had never really looked at each other like this before, and it felt momentous. Your lips parted and you would swear Steve was closer than he had been.</p>
<p>"Hey!" You jumped at the sound of Sam's voice. "C'mon, guys, before Bucky eats all the popcorn." Down the hall, Sam was waving you and Steve into the screening room. You'd obviously been planning to skip movie night, avoiding Steve, but you couldn't now, not when he was looking at you like this.</p>
<p>Steve didn't even glance at Sam, his gaze remaining firmly on your face as he spoke one measured word. "Sam." Somehow, Sam seemed to understand exactly what Steve meant and ducked back into the room without protest.</p>
<p>"If you share popcorn with me, instead of either of us sharing with them, I promise to not hog it," he said, his voice soft and gentle.</p>
<p>If you had a defense left against Steve, that destroyed the last of it, your heart sighing at the sweetness of the man. Your voice throaty enough to shame you if you were talking to anyone other than him, you replied with a slow, hot smile. "Why do I get the feeling you're offering to share more than popcorn with me, Steve?"</p>
<p>You didn't know it, but the smile that overtook your face was wrecking Steve. Though the heat suffusing his neck and cheeks felt very familiar, he could hardly believe he heard his own voice saying, as he offered his arm to escort you to the screening room, "Because I am."</p>
<p>The next few hours were the most electrifying of your life. You sat next to Steve, carefully sharing the popcorn he'd made and brought to where you were curled up on one of the couches in the screening room. You didn't watch a second of the movie, couldn't even remember what had been on the screen, too aware of the nearness of Steve, the heat of his body next to yours.</p>
<p>You felt like a teenager again, quickened breaths in the dark, stolen glances in the flickering light. Steve seemed as captivated, smiling shyly whenever your eyes or hands met over the popcorn. Neither of you acknowledged the heat rising between you, but both of you were captivated by it.</p>
<p>Once the popcorn was gone, Steve leaned forward and placed the bowl on the floor next to him, his heart racing from every accidental brush of your skin against his, no matter how innocent. When he sat back up, he lay his arm along the back of the couch, hoping the invitation was clear without being overt.</p>
<p>To his delight, you moved to lean against him, the same way you would if any close friend had been sitting next to you. Settling in with your head against his shoulder, your shoulder under his arm, your back against his chest, you tried to hide the hitch in your breathing. You stretched your legs out and pretended to focus on the movie the way you would if you were sitting with Bucky or Sam, except you'd successfully put both of them in the Do Not Bang category so your heart didn't flutter and jump the way it did with Steve.</p>
<p>Steve had burst out of that category with one look at his face flushed with passion. When your skin brushed his, you felt it in your bones. The warmth of his body seeped into yours, relaxing you, turning your muscles pliant. You softened like wax against him, unable to hide what he did to you.</p>
<p>Steve was in heaven. You’d melted against him and he was awed at how good it felt. He could smell your hair, your skin, the scent coiling into his head and muddling his mind. His heart was pounding like a drum, the quick thrumming of your heart matching it, creating an ache in his gut. Your heart didn’t race like this with others. Only him.</p>
<p>You were having an internal meltdown. If you’d been alone with him, you’d have already climbed into Steve’s lap. As you'd relaxed into him, you’d felt him relax against you in turn. Then you'd felt the muscles in his arm flex, ever so slightly, like he was squeezing you. The feeling had set off a storm of sensation inside you, way out of proportion to something you may have imagined.</p>
<p>It was your own fault, really.</p>
<p>If only you'd been able to resist getting yourself off to the memory of watching him, imagining yourself the focus of all that passion. That intrigued look as you'd fled your garage had haunted you, left you wanting in ways you'd never experienced before. You'd been ashamed of yourself, but it hadn't stopped you.</p>
<p>But that meant that every brush of his skin against yours set fires, every minute snuggled against his body driving you quietly mad. You were slowly but surely melting into a puddle of pure lust simply sitting next to him. Instead of the movie, all you could see was his biceps flexing as he held you open to pound harder into you. You'd replaced Hallway Blonde in your fantasies immediately, and you’d only gotten more detailed after you'd talked to Steve in your garage.</p>
<p>Steve was using every sense at full capacity and every single one was telling him that you were as aroused as he. The knowledge only made him hotter and he’d been rock hard since before the popcorn was gone. He was arguing with himself, however, trying to talk himself down, afraid to believe what his senses were telling him when he wanted so badly for it to be true.</p>
<p>He blinked when the lights came on, hadn't noticed the roll of credits nor the movement and voices of the others in the room. You hadn't moved, either, utterly spellbound by being held, even so loosely, against Steve.</p>
<p>"What'd you guys think?" Sam raised his voice and spoke in your and Steve's direction, one eyebrow raised and a half-smile starting on his mouth as he watched the two of you start and stumble, flustered with each other. He hadn't considered the idea before, but he liked it.</p>
<p>"I think I kind of fell asleep," you said, not really feigning your confusion, "I don't remember a thing. I think I'm done for the day." With that, you stood, smiled genially at everyone and bade your good nights. You gave Steve a special smile, one slow and warm in invitation. If he wanted you, you were in.</p>
<p>Before you got more than a step away, Steve was standing up. "Is it okay if we talk for a minute?" he asked softly, almost under his breath, well aware that ears almost as sensitive as his own were listening and the mouth attached would be gossiping with Sam as soon as the two of you were out the door.</p>
<p>Your smile sparkled, and he was dazzled, forgetting anyone else existed. "Of course." You matched the volume of his voice, as aware as he that you were surrounded by people entirely too interested in your business. "Walk me to my room?" You slid your arm through his with a wide, lecherous grin, making him laugh.</p>
<p>You made it around only two corners before he had you up against a wall, his mouth on yours, hands on your hips, your hands in his hair.</p>
<p>Your tongues were tangling and curling together, and the spice of Steve's mouth was exquisite, intoxicating. You were climbing him, using your arms around his neck to pull yourself up to wrap your legs around his waist. He was eagerly helping you, his hands sliding around your thighs to hike you up so he could press his hips to yours, rocking his erection against the core of your body.</p>
<p>"Seriously," you purred when Steve tore his mouth from yours to close his teeth around the cord of muscle sloping from your neck to your shoulder, "what the hell was that movie about?" Having the flesh of your shoulder between Steve’s teeth was so close to some of the fantasies you'd had of late, you felt yourself shudder in reaction in his arms.</p>
<p>The feeling of you shivering against him only drove Steve crazier. He could hardly believe how good he felt with you. "You think I know?" he laughed against your skin, his voice rich with disbelief colored by affection.</p>
<p>You couldn't help but grin at the sound. You loved how sexy he made you feel, that he'd been as caught in the moment as you. If you weren't separated by multiple layers of clothing, you'd have already asked him to fuck you. Except…</p>
<p>"Steve?" You moaned it, loving the way Steve was nibbling gently on the edge of your jaw under your ear. "Hallway Blonde's not your girlfriend, right? I can't poach, man, it makes me feel yucky." You weren’t that worried, considering it was Steve and he was relentlessly honest, but you needed to be sure, regardless.</p>
<p>Steve lifted his head, his smile wide, his eyes soft, loving that you'd stop in the middle of this wildfire that had erupted between you to make sure you weren't <em>poaching</em>. How could he do anything but adore you?</p>
<p>"No." Still, reminding him of her had a cooling effect on his libido and he couldn't help but pull away again, gently letting your legs fall to the floor before stepping back completely once you were steady on your feet. He grabbed your hand and brought it to his mouth, brushing his lips across the back, hating the concern he'd put on your face. Needing privacy, he used his grip on your hand to pull you into motion toward his rooms, deciding to use the time the walk would take to explain, at least a little.</p>
<p>"She's my ex," he went on, red creeping up his neck and making your heart soften in sympathy. "I was having a hard day and she got to me."</p>
<p>You could hear in his voice what kind of relationship he had with his ex. You squeezed his hand gently, wanting to take away the hurt. "It doesn't sound healthy." Your voice was soft with that sympathy, warm with kindness and the sound was like a balm on Steve's heart.</p>
<p>"It's not," he replied wryly. "I finally listened to Nat and blocked her number."</p>
<p>You laughed out loud at that, but then your heart began to race when you realized you were nearing Steve's door. When you reached it, you glanced at Steve, whose eyes were burning into yours with a lust you'd never seen before, as well as an emotion that looked terrifyingly close to adoration.</p>
<p>"I was wishing she was you." His voice was a rumble, the sound seeming to set your bones vibrating.</p>
<p>You loved the feeling, couldn’t resist it. Your hands came up, seemingly of their own volition, to close into fists in his shirt, dragging him close as you moaned, "God, I was, too."</p>
<p>Steve's smile flashed as his arms came around you to fold you close, his head dipping to yours to close his mouth over yours. Once again, you were pressed between the wall of Steve's chest and the literal wall and you couldn't find a thing not to like about it. You were purring in your throat and running your hands over the muscles of his shoulders, arms, chest, back, anywhere you could reach, really.</p>
<p>And once again, Steve tore his mouth from yours, but this time you fastened your mouth around the skin of his neck, sucking at the salt and sweet there, humming in satisfaction as Steve tried to remember what he'd wanted to say.</p>
<p>"Let me make love to you, y/n."</p>
<p>"Steve, will you fuck me already?"</p>
<p>You spoke at the same time. He did so in a moan, into the air as you destroyed his mind with your wicked mouth. You did so against his skin, your words a mutter as you still had his skin gently between your teeth.</p>
<p>You hummed as Steve laughed and the two of you stumbled like drunks through the door to his rooms.</p>
<p>Finally, away from the risk of prying eyes, the two of you gave into the inferno that had been building between you. Against the door, you twined around him in invitation. "Right here, Steve," you tempted, your voice throaty as you grabbed his hands, pulling him against you and placing his palms on your skin under your tank top. You invited him to undress you by sliding his hand further up before letting go to begin the process of getting him naked, too.</p>
<p>Steve let out a happily surprised laugh, his hands moving deliciously over your skin as he slid your shirt up and over your head. You lifted your arms to assist, even as he did the same so you could get his t-shirt off. "Is sex with you always this" --he paused to let you pull his shirt over his head, then grinned when you tossed it away with a playful flourish-- "fun?" He wanted to cringe when he heard the words come out of his mouth, certain you’d think him stupid, that he'd killed the mood.</p>
<p>Except you were laughing, sliding your palms over his chest with an approving hum and eyes that seared. "I sure hope so. Why have sex if it isn't fun?"</p>
<p>The next moment his big, warm hands were cupping your face, dragging your eyes from his undeniably gorgeous chest to press his lips to yours. He was drinking from your mouth like a man parched for the taste, his tongue sweeping between your lips to curve around yours in pure sexual invitation even as his palms held your face as though you were both fragile and precious. Dizzy, your hands came up to close around his wrists to steady yourself.</p>
<p>Steve couldn't get enough of you, couldn't believe how sweet and hot and joyous it felt to be kissing you, to feel your limbs twining around him, your hands rushing over him, your body rubbing against him. He couldn't stop, not that he wanted to, ever more lost as he kissed you more deeply, licking, sucking, nipping at your mouth. He pressed you against the wall, trying to enfold you in his body, wanting to feel every inch of you.</p>
<p>Your fantasies hadn't done justice to how Steve's skin would feel as you let go of his wrists to wrap your arms around his neck in an attempt to climb him again. You couldn’t resist the smooth rasp of his flesh on yours, the sensation driving you higher, prompting you to ever more desperately run your hands over him.</p>
<p>One of Steve's arms dropped to slide around your waist and press you closer, his hand closing around your ass in a kneading grip. His other hand slid down from your cheek, his palm hot against the skin of your chest as his fingertips traced the line of your collarbone. You arched in his arms, desperate for more, tearing your mouth from his to gasp in a breath. That gasp of air came out on a moan as Steve buried his face in your throat to taste and his hand slid further down to close around your breast through your bra.</p>
<p>Needing more contact, more sensation, you dropped your arm to slide your hand behind your back to unhook your bra. As soon as you'd released the closure, with your assistance, Steve removed the scrap of lace and elastic and let it fall to the floor. You moaned and whimpered at the feeling of cool air followed by Steve's hot chest against your sensitive skin.</p>
<p>His hand returned immediately to your bare breast to knead and plump, his calloused thumb rasping over your nipple, sending shivers over your skin and making your core clench in need. You slid your hand between your bodies to return the favor, closing your hand around his erection through his jeans.</p>
<p>Steve groaned in turn, his head falling forward as the muscles in his neck went lax and he shuddered in reaction. He could do nothing but stand there in awe when your other hand came forward to drag impatiently at the buttons on his jeans, utterly focused on getting both of you, but mostly him, naked as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>Your open and honest enjoyment helped him overcome his insecurities, gave him confidence. "You really want me to take you against the wall, sweetheart?" Until he’d seen you like this, lips swollen from his, eyes shining with desire, he hadn’t known he could say anything like that to you. He now felt like he could say anything at all to you.</p>
<p>He could see you liked it by the lecherous grin you shot him from under mischievous eyelashes before slipping your hand beneath the waistband of his boxer briefs, sliding your palm over the back of his rock-hard cock. The knot of lust at his center tightened when you smiled wickedly at the moan of pleasure he released. "Did watching me get you that hot?" he heard himself say, his voice almost pleading.</p>
<p>You felt like you could hardy breathe, the fire between you consuming the oxygen in the room and leaving you lightheaded and overheated. Steve's eyes were burning into yours with sheer, overwhelming lust on the question, making you laugh a little, breathlessly, and prompting a bluntly honest reply.</p>
<p>"Are you kidding me?" You moved your hand gently, curling and caressing as your palm twisted around him. Using your other hand, you dragged at the last of his clothing even as your eyes stayed on his face, drinking in his reactions to your touch. "You're so fucking sexy," you went on, your voice an ache.</p>
<p>Steve seemed to lose his patience. Before you could think, he was kicking out of the last of his clothing even as he bent to slide yours down and away. Your knees nearly gave out when his palms skimmed the outside of your calves, up and over the backs of your thighs to grip tight as he lifted you. Your head fell back in ecstasy when you felt your back against the wall, Steve's hips between your thighs, his mouth closing around your breast.</p>
<p>"Better than I imagined.” The sound was a moan, making Steve smile against your skin. You looked down to where his teeth were closed gently around your nipple and the sight had you shuddering and rocking your bare cunt against the back of his cock. Steve was even more beautiful up close, lost in you. His skin was flushed and pretty pink, the dark circles of his long lashes lovely against his cheek. The slight prickle of pain from his teeth against your breast had you bucking in his arms even as you pressed your lips to the side of his forehead.</p>
<p>Steve's hands tightened, his forearms under your knees to hold you in place. He spread your legs wider as he rubbed almost shamelessly against you, sliding his cock through your folds, teasing your clit with the tip. "Did you imagine it?" he asked, lifting his head to look you in the eye, his gaze searing. The question was a rumbling invitation, shivering under your skin and into your bones.</p>
<p>"I came that night thinking about it," you admitted, your voice an aching whimper, touched with shame, "and every day and night after." You laughed, that shamed arousal rich. It made Steve want to be inside you more than his next breath. "I've been revved ever since I saw you like this.” Your voice went even rougher with desire and you sighed, nuzzling your mouth against his. “Do you know how beautiful you are like this?”</p>
<p>His body quaked in reaction. Everything was sweet and hot with you, leaving him reeling. His hands tightened and he lifted you a touch higher, his cock slipping beneath you, teasing. "Fuck, you’re so wet,” he exclaimed in low tones, his excitement plain.</p>
<p>You might have been embarrassed if his arousal and gratification in the fact wasn’t crystal clear. You could see how close he was to his limits in his sexy clenched jaw and narrowed eyes. Barely restrained lust came through in the hands gripping your thighs almost hard enough to bruise.</p>
<p>You closed your teeth around his plump lower lip, then gave in to the urge you’d had all week and sucked gently on it. Letting go slowly, you scraped your teeth over that delectable lip with relish. “Please. Fuck me, Steve; I’m dyin’ here.” If he needed you to ask, you were happy to oblige.</p>
<p>Steve threw his head back and roared with laughter even as he slid inside you. Your moan of relieved pleasure melded with his groaning chuckle to make a sound you both found oddly charming. You grinned into his face, delighted with his pretty blushing smile, even as he began to thrust into you.</p>
<p>“Since you asked so nicely,” Steve retorted, his cheeks growing even pinker, if that could be believed, as his smile grew bashful.</p>
<p>You couldn’t laugh, though you wanted to, captivated by this new facet to Steve, but he was moving in all the right ways and all the right angles to be slowly but steadily driving you out of your mind with pleasure. You gave a choked cry, barely hearing yourself moan, “Oh, god, Steve. Thank you,” as your hands scrabbled for a grip on the muscles of his shoulders and back, touching every inch of him you could reach.</p>
<p>But he heard. And he thought you were just about the cutest, sweetest woman he’d ever met. He adored this polite, yet mischievous and playful side to you, was utterly and cheerfully lost in you. He couldn’t help it; his hips started thrusting harder and faster into you, overcome by the sensation of being inside you, spurred higher by the look of ecstasy on your face.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, you were delighted with the increase in force and speed, had been about to request it. Your hips rocked to meet his thrusts as much as his clenched hands allowed. Steve was fulfilling your fantasy and you were about to come with his eyes on yours as he nailed you like a madman against a wall.</p>
<p>Then fantasy surpassed reality when he spoke, “Will you come for me, sweetheart?”</p>
<p>“Yes.” Though you only spoke one word, a single syllable, it was as though each letter had gained multiple representatives, so that it came out a shuddering, hissing moan as you fulfilled his request and came in a swamping wave of shivering pleasure.</p>
<p>Steve slowed to watch the climax move across your face, to see your eyes blur as it took you, to savor the feeling of you clenching and rippling over his cock as you came. He rocked gently into you as you floated down, holding onto his control by his fingernails but wanting to pleasure you thoroughly.</p>
<p>When your eyes focused on his once more and you smiled a cat that ate the canary smile, Steve grinned back. With a quick flex, he tossed you up, readjusting his grip as his hips moved in tandem. His hands now on your ass, a little higher and more firmly against the wall, Steve began to pound into you at a new, and somehow even better angle.</p>
<p>You gasped, the sensation building you quickly back to peak, though Steve's face, inches from yours, in the throes of passion, was almost as exciting as his hips slamming into yours. His jaw was clenched, his eyes flames as they stared into yours. No longer merely pretty, the near feral look of lust tightening his face made him gorgeous. You could see you were the center of his focus, that nothing could or would drag his attention from this inferno before it had burned itself out.</p>
<p>"Again," he growled, and you could feel it in his chest where it rubbed against yours. You'd long ago given over your weight and control to Steve, willing to let him take you where he wanted. You gave the rest of yourself over at his command; giving in to Steve had worked out well for you so far.</p>
<p>With a sultry, "yes, sir," you let the climax to which he'd so relentlessly driven you take you over, shuddering helplessly on his cock as he continued to thrust into you.</p>
<p>The sound of your voice, sexy and full of fun even as you started to ripple around him once more, tripped some switch in his brain and drug him over the edge with you, though he'd wanted to make it last. Watching you come was his new favorite thing. He didn't know if he'd ever have this chance again and had hoped to see it more before it was all over.</p>
<p>He couldn't help himself, though, not when you were so perfectly wrapped around him, so clearly loving everything he was doing to you. His rhythm growing erratic, he came with stuttering hips and a groan of pleasure so beautiful it made you shudder with aftershocks.</p>
<p>Despite the pleasure rocketing through you, your eyes remained open, fierce as you watched Steve, greedily drinking in the sight you'd missed last week because of your conscience, and to be fair, your fear of getting caught. His beauty became almost obscene, taut and dangerous in an endless moment you’d never forget.</p>
<p>Then everything about him softened against you as he drifted down from the best sex of his life. The two of you rested against one another, savoring the connection as the little quakes of pleasure worked their way through each of you and into the other. Panting and gasping for breath, you grinned into Steve's face, utterly delighted with him and hoping he'd let you recover in his bed before having another go. "So pretty," you whispered, your voice having fled the scene some time ago.</p>
<p>Steve smiled, happy and satisfied, hopeful you'd let him take you to his bed so he could make love to you again. "I think that should be my line," he whispered back and brushed his mouth over yours. His grip around your thighs had eased, and he now shifted to wrap you around him so he could hold you more gently.</p>
<p>“If all you wanted was sex, we can leave it here," he said against your mouth, his voice soft and vulnerable. "No hard feelings." His smile was sad, but real, and you ached for him. When his mouth opened again, you felt your heart leap with hope. "If you want more, though…" the smile on your face was giving him hope, and confidence, and he kissed you, softly, on the corner of your mouth, "sweetheart…" the other corner, making your eyelids flutter, "I have so much more for you.” He sank in, kissing you deeply, encouraged by the happy sigh you'd released just before his mouth took yours.</p>
<p>“Oh!" You said into his mouth, breaking the kiss. You were surprised but overjoyed to hear that Steve wanted more than just sex. You'd have been up for a fuck buddy, but you'd rather have more. "Really? Steve, this is going to sound weird considering the circumstances, but I really like you.” You felt like a giggling schoolgirl but figured Steve Rogers could probably make anyone feel that way.</p>
<p>Steve considered the circumstances, a slow, wry smile spreading across his face. The two of you were no longer connected but you still twined together, sweaty, sticky, and satisfied. He still had you pinned to the wall, but with the weight of his body as it rested against yours, his hands under your ass to hold you up. You'd kept your legs wrapped around his waist, your arms around his neck, seemingly content to rest in his arms as long as he wanted to hold you. The way he felt at the moment, he never wanted to let you go. “I really like you, too, y/n.”</p>
<p>The smile you gave him next was the best one yet, as far as Steve was concerned. He straightened, still holding you and quirked a brow. Tilting his head in the direction of his bedroom, he silently offered to take you there.</p>
<p>You were not going to silently answer. Wiggling against him, you tightened your arms and legs around him to pull your face directly into his, your noses touching as you grinned wickedly, your eyes dancing. Steve thought you the prettiest thing. “So," you said, playfully sultry, "I believe I asked you to fuck me, and you more than satisfied.”</p>
<p>Steve snorted and your smile turned delighted. You loved making him laugh. “Thank you," he said, wryly, turning toward his room, but slowly, giving you ample time to consent or object.</p>
<p>“But I also believe you said something about making love to me?" You had a need to shower him in affection, to lift the shy vulnerability from his eyes. You understood now that he had feelings for you, perhaps had for a while and you'd never known, thinking his shyness dislike. Now that you knew, however, you were happy to reciprocate, delighted to find both a bedmate and possible boyfriend where you never thought to look, certain there could be nothing there. "I’m not familiar with that particular sport," your voice dropped to a throaty purr, "but I’m open to experimentation.”</p>
<p>You bit your lip and Steve smiled his prettiest smile yet. Confident now that he knew what you wanted, were willing to explore, he walked to his bedroom on long quick strides, needing to see you in his bed, tangled in his sheets.</p>
<p>When he set you in his bed, he stood and looked at you for a moment before pulling the covers back to climb in beside you. Sliding between the sheets with Steve, curling against his warm body was better than you could have imagined, if you’d even thought to. His thick arms wrapped around you to press you against the wall of his chest and you sighed against his throat in delirious contentment.</p>
<p>Steve couldn't resist the sound and shifted to take your mouth in a kiss designed to both adore and enflame. You gave yourself over to it. You hadn't regretted trusting Steve yet; you didn't expect to start now.</p>
<p>A long time later, after you'd had your expectations not only met, but exceeded, you lay with your head once more pillowed on his chest, astonished that your skin wasn't literally glowing. He'd worshipped every inch, first with his hot, calloused hands, followed by his soft, generous mouth. You'd returned the favor and between adoring Steve and being adored by him, you felt like your skin should be shining because your bones were humming.</p>
<p>You sure hoped he'd like to do this again.</p>
<p>"Best movie night ever," he said, softly, his voice joyously awed.</p>
<p>You dissolved into laughter, making him smile like an idiot at you. You slid on top of him to comb your fingers through his hair and nip at his lower lip. The sight of you grinning happily at him, in no apparent hurry to leave, made his heart kick and dance.</p>
<p>"You're not gonna wait until next week to put out again, are ya?"</p>
<p>Steve laughing was almost as beautiful as Steve making love.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>"You blocked my number."</p>
<p>Steve closed his eyes at the vicious hiss but didn't move otherwise. He was in one of the hangars, had been doing a routine double-check of one of the quinjets with Natasha when she'd been called away. Now he wondered if this was why. He'd known it had to happen sooner or later. Frankly, he was a little surprised it had taken this long.</p>
<p>Three weeks after his first night with you, he was happier than he'd ever remembered being. Sweet, sexy, sassy, you enchanted him, enthralled him. You made him laugh every time he talked to you; it seemed to him you went out of your way to inspire it.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, making Steve laugh, lifting the sadness, the loneliness from his eyes was your new favorite pastime. There was plenty of selfish motive behind it; he was so pretty when he was happy. And considering how often his laughter led to him kissing you which led to him nailing you against the nearest available surface, you had plenty of reason to make him laugh. The whole thing was really working for you.</p>
<p>You'd told Steve as much this afternoon after he'd nailed you on one of the workbenches in your garage. He'd been panting, mostly dressed, but still inside you, and even as he’d laughed, he’d been holding back words of adoration, afraid to move too fast. He couldn't help but compare the sweet, funny things you purred in his ear at such moments to those he'd once endured.</p>
<p>"I told you I wasn't doing this anymore." Steve didn't turn around, dreading having to look at the woman he'd once loved, but not enough, never enough, the woman he now resented.</p>
<p>Her heart was racing, and he recognized fury in the thrum. The stamp of her foot on the concrete behind him confirmed it. "How dare you ignore me?" Her voice was breathy, even when she was angry; he'd never realized how much he hated the sound.</p>
<p>He turned in surprise when he heard your voice behind them both, from the door to the hangar where you leaned around the open door to shout, "Steve! Babe!" Your voice was anything but breathy, pitched to carry clearly to where he stood. "Wrap it up, huh?" You tapped your bare wrist then turned away with a leer. "It's movie night."</p>
<p>The tone of your voice matched the smile on your face and made it clear you were speaking in euphemism. Steve couldn't help but grin at your retreating back, appreciating your blunt way of staking your claim without being cruel or possessive.</p>
<p>"Is that my replacement?" The scoff of derision fueled by thinly veiled jealousy that accompanied the question immediately wiped the grin from his face as he focused on her. "Do you think of Peggy when you're inside her, too?"</p>
<p>"No," he replied, his voice as cold as she was, though pity lived under the icy fury at the insult to you, "you were her stand-in." When her hand cracked across his face in a slap he chose not to avoid or block, he didn't react beyond closing his eyes for a moment. "You were right." His eyes opened and before she could unload the tirade that trembled on her lips, his face softened with that pity and had her stumbling back in white-faced rage. "I didn't love you enough. I'm sorry."</p>
<p>Speechless, infuriated, she retreated rather than face a cold-eyed Steve Rogers. She'd never seen such a thing before; she didn't know how to manipulate him this way. Stalking out on trembling knees, she didn't see you leaning on the wall of the hangar just outside the door. You'd given them privacy, but Steve had confessed enough about her to have you feeling protective, so you couldn't get too far away.</p>
<p>Steve, on the other hand, immediately spotted you in his peripheral vision when he followed to make sure she left. The corner of his mouth quirked up in a wry smile and he lifted one eyebrow when he tilted his head in your direction once his ex was in her car and screeching away. He made a mental note to have her access to the compound rescinded.</p>
<p>"Was that Hallway Blonde?" When he rolled his eyes, his lips twitching, you smirked and pushed yourself away from the wall to saunter toward him. You were wearing your recently acquired Thursday night uniform of a tank top and skirt and Steve was already imagining running his hands over the bare skin of your legs while he watched another movie he wouldn't remember later. "What did you say to her? She looked ready to blow a gasket."</p>
<p>Steve laughed a little, adoring you. He'd known you wouldn't eavesdrop, knew you trusted him, respected his privacy. Even as you slid your arms around his neck to greet him with a kiss, he was sliding his arms around your waist to hold you close. Resting his head against your forehead, he replied on a sigh of sadness. He hadn't wanted to hurt her, but he needed to sever that connection and couldn't see any other way. "I told her the truth."</p>
<p>"Apparently the truth hurts." Your hands were gentle as they combed soothingly through his hair. Though this relationship had come out of nowhere for you, and it still had that new car smell, you felt utterly secure and confident in both Steve's affection and desire for you. Steve was so painfully honest, it was impossible to not know exactly where you stood with him. He made it easy to be with him, the click instant as soon as he’d been able to open up. You really didn’t understand his ex’s problem but couldn’t complain since her loss was your gain.</p>
<p>You pulled back to give him a concerned look, worried that she'd ruined your evening. "You're still gonna nail me against the wall tonight, right?"</p>
<p>Steve, who had been expecting something soft and empathetic, since you usually responded to his vulnerability with your generous heart, burst into surprised laughter. He never knew when you were going to take things seriously and when you were going to tease. He adored it. He snatched a quick kiss from your mischievous mouth and squeezed you tight in friendly appreciation.</p>
<p>"Of course," he replied, a chuckle still coloring his voice as he stepped back to start walking toward the private section of the compound, taking your hand in his. He smiled when you immediately moved to play, swinging your hands back and forth between you. "It's movie night. It's practically tradition."</p>
<p>You smiled back and winked, your smile sultry as your breath sped. You couldn't believe how much fun becoming both friends and lovers could be, but with Steve, falling in love was exhilarating. You bit your lip, something Steve had learned meant you were imagining him naked, and he was unsurprised to notice he was already hard.</p>
<p>Your voice was already a little raspy with lust when you replied, "I really dig the way we see eye to eye on things, Steve.”</p>
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